WORLD TRADE  
ORGANIZATION  IP/C/W/513 
20 June 2008 
 
 (08-2936) 
Council for Trade-Related Aspects 
of Intellectual Property Rights Original:   English 
 
 
TECHNICAL COOPERATION AND CAPACITY BUILDING: 
"CLUSTER" A OF THE DEVELOPMENT AGENDA 
 
Communication from Brazil  
 
 
 The following communication, dated 17 June 2008,  is being circulated at the request of the 
Delegation of Brazil.  
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Since the TRIPS Council's 2005 decision "Extensi on of the Transition Period under Article 
66.1 for Least Developed Country Members", di scussions on the implementation of technical 
cooperation and capacity building oblig ations under Article 67 have been  concentrating on the need to 
develop targeted technical cooperation programme for LDCs, so as to  help those countries to 
integrate meaningfully into the IP system, as active players of the world knowledge-based economy. 
Throughout this now three-year old debate, Memb ers often expressed the view that technical 
cooperation and capacity building programme should be more responsive to developing countries' 
specific needs, in particular those of the LD Cs, and should encompass a broader spectrum of 
activities.  Concrete efforts are being made to help  LDCs in the assessment of their assistance needs 
and requests.  Moreover, it was suggested that a monitoring mechanism be established in the WTO 
under the TRIPS Council to make sure th at their requests were responded to. 
Brazil, along with other developing countries, has been actively participating in this debate. 
Time and again, we have been emphasizing the n eed to systematically assess the extent to which 
technical assistance activities carried out by developed countries under Article 67 are truly "development oriented" and contribute to a balanced implementation of the TRIPS agreement, in light 
of its objectives and principles laid down in Articl es 7 and 8.  Indeed, technical assistance provided by 
developed country members should not only concentr ate on implementation of obligations.  To be 
effective, technical assistance should be broader in nature and also teach how to make legitimate use 
of the flexibilities of the TRIPS agreement, as well as of its provisions related to transfer of 
technology and the prevention and m itigation of abuse of IP rights. 
In other words:  the IP regime is based on a balance between rights and obligations.  
Technical assistance should therefore fully respect  this balance, enabling developing countries not 
only to fulfil their obligations, but also to benefit from their rights.  
The ongoing debate in the TRIPS Council on how to achieve effective compliance with the 
obligations under Article 67 would greatly benefit from the contribution of the intense and broad 
discussions going on in the World Intellectual Prope rty Organization (WIPO) on the implementation 
of the Development Agenda.  WIPO has been the ma in multilateral provider of technical assistance in 
the field of intellectual property and by virtue of the 1995 agreement with the WTO, it plays an IP/C/W/513 
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  important role in providing developing countries with technical assistance to implement the TRIPS 
Agreement. 
The WIPO Development Agenda process entere d its implementation phase with the first 
meeting of the Committee on Development and Intell ectual Property (CDIP) last March.  A draft 
work programme for the implementation of the 45 agr eed proposals – organized into six clusters - is 
currently under discussion.  Cluster A, with 14 prop osals, addresses technical assistance and capacity 
building issues. 
Proposals under Cluster A provide a guiding fra mework for development-oriented technical 
assistance.  In a nutshell, assistance activities shou ld be demand-driven, transparent, neutral, and 
accountable, and take into account the special needs of developing countries, in particular LDCs. 
Ensuring demand-driven assistance requires a careful  needs assessment process w ith the participation 
of civil society and an effective evaluation mechanism capable of monitoring each stage of 
implementation.    
Brazil proposes that the TRIPS Council takes note of the 14 proposals of cluster A of the 
Development Agenda, acknowledging, where applicab le, their relevance for the implementation of 
Article 67 of the TRIPS Agreement, and submits that  the consideration of i ssues related to technical 
assistance and capacity building under article 67 be ca rried out from now on also on the basis of those 
recommendations. 
The 14 elements of Cluster A of the Devel opment Agenda, as adopted by the WIPO General 
Assembly of 2007, are as follows (those marked by an asterisk were adopted for immediate 
implementation): 
A. C
LUSTER A:  TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE AND CAPACITY BUILDING  
1. *WIPO technical assistance shall be, inter alia , development-oriented, demand-driven and 
transparent, taking into account the priorities and the special needs of developing countries, especially 
LDCs, as well as the different le vels of development of member States and activities should include 
time frames for completion.  In this regard, desi gn, delivery mechanisms and evaluation processes of 
technical assistance programme should be country specific. 
2. Provide additional assistance to WIPO throug h donor funding, and est ablish Trust-in-Funds 
or other voluntary funds within WIPO specifically for LDCs, while continuing to accord high priority 
to finance activities in Africa through budgetary  and extra-budgetary resources, to promote, inter alia , 
the legal, commercial, cultural, and economic explo itation of intellectual property in these countries. 
3. *Increase human and financial allocation for technical assistance programs in WIPO for 
promoting a, inter alia , development-oriented intellectual property culture, with an emphasis on 
introducing intellectual property at different ac ademic levels and on generating greater public 
awareness on intellectual property. 
4. *Place particular emphasis on the needs of sma ll and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and 
institutions dealing with scientific research and cu ltural industries and assist member States, at their 
request, in setting-up appropriate national stra tegies in the field of intellectual property. 
5. WIPO shall display general information on a ll technical assistance activities on its website, 
and shall provide, on request from member States, deta ils of specific activities, with the consent of the 
member State(s) and other recipients concer ned, for which the activity was implemented.  IP/C/W/513 
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  6. *WIPO's technical assistance staff and consu ltants shall continue to be neutral and 
accountable, by paying particular attention to the existing Code of Ethics, and by avoiding potential 
conflicts of interest.  WIPO shall draw up and make widely known to the member States a roster of consultants for technical assistance available with WIPO. 
7. *Promote measures that will help countries d eal with intellectual property-related anti-
competitive practices, by providing technical coopera tion to developing countri es, especially LDCs, at 
their request, in order to better understand the interface between IPRs and competition policies. 
8. Request WIPO to develop agreements with resear ch institutions and with private enterprises 
with a view to facilitating the national offices of de veloping countries, especially LDCs, as well as 
their regional and sub-regional intellectual propert y organizations to access specialized databases for 
the purposes of patent searches. 
9. Request WIPO to create, in coordination with Member States, a database to match specific 
intellectual property-related devel opment needs with available resources, thereby expanding the scope 
of its technical assistance programme, aimed at bridging the digital divide. 
10. To assist member States to develop and impr ove national intellectual property institutional 
capacity through further development of infrastruct ure and other facilities with a view to making 
national intellectual property institutions more effici ent and promote fair balance between intellectual 
property protection and the public interest.  This technical assistance should also be extended to sub-
regional and regional organizations d ealing with intellectual property. 
11. *To assist member States to strengthen national capacity for protection of domestic creations, 
innovations and inventions and to support development of nati onal scientific and technological 
infrastructure, where appropriate, in accordance with WIPO's mandate. 
12. *To further mainstream development considera tions into WIPO's substantive and technical 
assistance activities and debates, in accordance with its mandate. 
13. *WIPO's legislative assistance shall be, inter alia , development-oriented and demand-driven, 
taking into account the priorities and the special ne eds of developing countries, especially LDCs, as 
well as the different levels of de velopment of member States and ac tivities should include time frames 
for completion. 
14. *Within the framework of the agreement betw een WIPO and the WTO, WIPO shall make 
available advice to developing countries and LDCs, on the implementation and operation of the rights 
and obligations and the understanding and use of flexibilities contained in the TRIPS Agreement. 
 
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